Still struggling with a mastering bundle.  Given black friday sales, trying to decide between....
 
Fab Mastering bundle: $362 
Includes:  Pro-MB, Pro-Q2, Pro-L, Pro-C
I just love the look, feel, and ease of use of this possible addition after listening to the vids and perusing forums last night.... everyone seems to love them...costs the most but seems like I could stop looking after this....???  And, unless they come up with a black friday inticer, I can wait as that's my price with prior purchases...
 
Melda Mastering bundle: $ 313
Lots of redundancy but includes the MSpectral dynamics everyone's raving about...could pick this up down the road sometime... but cheapest of all and money is tight! I also love the totally expandable UI, to help my old eyes see things... I am frustrated with "small" plugs when I have two large screens for my aging eyesight.  Still, can't imagine using the redundant plus and can always pick and choose later, which seems better for Melda plugs
 
Izotopes Studio bundle: $399
Ozone 6, Nectar 2, Alloy 2 
I love the Nectar harmonizing features but already have Melodyne editor and Antares everything, including Harmony Evo, none of which I use much...I just like doing harmonies the old fashion way (being a singer!)
 
I'm leaning to Fab even though money's tight... and if I go that way, I might drop the fab limiter and get the latest PSP Xenon, which I can get for 75$ with a coupon they have sitting in my user area... which would bring the Fab price down to  $412+$75 for Xenon: $487.  However, everyone just seems to looooooove Fab's Pro-L transparency which is what I'd probably want in the end.
 
I'm delirious from an all nighter trying to sort this all out!  I'm leaning towards Fabulous but...
 
One last question, If I delete fabs Pro-C, it brings it all down to $430 and as I'd get the Pro-MB compressor/expander do I really need this?  Boy, I must sound dumb!
 
NOTE: fab prices were wrong in the above....much better so I chose Fab at JRR shop for $362!!! (extra 15% discount applied in cart gets you there... DO IT

Hopefully you have been demoing them. All of the vendors mentioned have fully functional demos. If money is tight, keep in mind Melda plug-ins are free updates for life (Melda does differential between updates and upgrades) and any plug-ins added to the bundle are free too. FabFilter and iZotope charge for upgrades to the next version.

Hey, Scook... Yes, I understand what you're saying... Melda does offer a great long range relationship...and the ability to expand their UI so I can "see" everything is pretty important... I hate dinky plugs like PSP's... just don't use what I can't see and I have plenty of big screen real estate! And several Fab plugs are four years old... ie, Pro-L and C... and I imagine a "2" coming down the pike, like with Pro-Q... hmmmmm....
 
Re: demoing... probably should but as this is my first real interest in mastering plugs, I'd take a month of "swimming"... but maybe I should.  Figured all the lust for Fab's would make it easy and I'd rather write music then learn all the different options... ie, just get what is felt to be the best (I'll find the $$$ somehow... time is more precious at my age!)
 
Based on further thought, maybe I should go with Pro-mb and Pro-q2 for $302 and still get the melda bundle for $313...OY, my head hurts...

There is no arguing the Fabfilter plug-ins are very nice and the limiter and compressor are due for updates. The Mastering Bundle is available ar jrrshop for $484. It may be cheaper at one of the other discounters.
 
You won't have to worry about iZotope when it comes to new versions. They will provide a paid upgrade every couple of years. Older versions do still work. If you are strictly looking for mastering buying Ozone would be the least cost solution for now and it does go on sale occasionally. They just released Ozone 6. Amazon still shows Ozone 5 available for $199.

scook
There is no arguing the Fabfilter plug-ins are very nice and the limiter and compressor are due for updates. The Mastering Bundle is available ar jrrshop for $484. It may be cheaper at one of the other discounters.
 
You won't have to worry about iZotope when it comes to new versions. They will provide a paid upgrade every couple of years. Older versions do still work. If you are strictly looking for mastering buying Ozone would be the least cost solution for now and it does go on sale occasionally. They just released Ozone 6. Amazon still shows Ozone 5 available for $199.

wow! $484? Thanks... better than my deal... Started off yesterday thinking Ozone but after thread exhaustion with cpu hits, frustrations on Ozone6, and love for fab....  Do appreciate your taking the time... on this day, no less!  

Nope! jrrshop... $569... grrrrr.... will keep looking
 
OK... I see it!
 

For mastering an already good mix (I assume you're mastering your own music) all you really need is an eq, in some cases compression, a limiter, maybe a few others a few plugin tools for checking levels, rms, etc.

What don't you already have that can't accomplish these tasks?

Unless your mixes are poor you shouldn't need to be using much or if any dynamic, multi-band or other bs processing.

You should look at T-racks. You can get 4 for the price of one right now.  For $149 you can have the new mastering EQ, Linear phase Eq, Bus Compressor and Brickwall Limiter....or whatever else you may want. I have the Fab Filter stuff (Pro-Q,C,L and Saturn) and It's some of the best no doubt about it, but IK is good too and very cheap right now.

Scook...I'm on it!  realize why not demo them...
I've begun my all nighter trials.... Xenon is already OUT!  GUI too small/confusing...sounds great but...
Fab downloading now/installing.... but have to take Volt to beach for thanksgiving (belgium sheep dog...best friend!)
Thanks, all.... will delve deep tonight!
 
pathos... have all X3 tools and more but as my mixes get denser, with cinamatics/orchestrations, not to mention new insanity like Serium, I want to better "fit" each into the mix as well as get a better squirt to mp3/wave...
 
For me, as an intuitive songwriter/vocalist, being able to visualize and adjust things so my ears feel better just makes sense.... most of the tools I have lack the visualization my mind needs to correct clashes/saturated bands and the like...
 
As far as I've gone, feel my mixes are ok/so so... don't really want to get a slew of tools... just the best for visualizing and sculpting a bit more...
 
Clint.... I have all of IK's stuff... just too confusing... bought them years ago.  Maybe I should try them again but really leaning towards Fab/Melda for the visualization...which speaks to me more than knobs/meters/itybitty displays...

Well you can't beat the Fabs! Amazing plugins and it sounds like they're what you want. Check out "the Market place" at KVR...You can sometimes save a lot there.